Kentucky Fish And Wildlife

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission has unanimously recommended that the department increase prices for some resident Kentucky hunting and fishing licenses.

The Commission is the guiding body for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. It took the action during its September quarterly meeting. It will be the first resident license price increase in more than a decade, and the first increase of the senior and disabled sportsman’s licenses since their inceptions in 1999.

Registration for the annual Kentucky Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshop in September is now open. The weekend program is designed for women 18 and older who want to learn more about the outdoors and develop a variety of outdoor skills, including hunting and fishing.

The event is Sept. 15-17 at Camp Robert C. Webb on Grayson Lake. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources sponsors the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) program, which more than 3,000 women have attended since it began.

Two Fleming County brothers facing hundreds of illegal hunting charges entered guilty pleas and agreed to pay more than $20,000 in fines, restitution and court costs, serve time in home incarceration and lose their hunting privileges for three years.

Kentucky state and federal agencies, along with several local angling groups, are working together to improve fish habitat at Cave Run Lake near Morehead, Ky.

Trees, stumps, stake beds and artificial structures are being submerged underwater to provide fish habitat and shelter in the coves of the lake.

Beginning Monday, Aug. 14, through Thursday, Aug. 17, the Poppin Rock and Bangor boat ramps will temporarily close while they are being used as staging areas for storage and loading of the new fish habitat structures.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources invites people of all ages to celebrate hunting, fishing and the great outdoors at the Salato Wildlife Education Center in Frankfort on Saturday, Aug. 5.

Activities and demonstrations will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern Time) with free admission into the center during this event. The center features animals in naturalized enclosures, conservation displays and hiking trails through a variety of habitats.

June is one of the best months for outside activities such as fishing. However, many predator species, such as largemouth bass, have already completed their annual reproductive ritual and kind of sulk through June.

It can be a tough month for fishing in lakes and reservoirs, but two options will produce fishing that compares to the marvelous weather.

June is a transitional month for largemouth bass in our larger lakes, but the confined nature of a farm pond ups the odds in the angler’s favor.

Spring break for many conjures thoughts of traveling somewhere warm and catnapping on a beach between rounds of golf.

A staycation sounds much better if you’re a muskellunge angler from Kentucky. The state’s muskellunge fishery has earned a reputation that extends beyond its borders, and experienced anglers know spring is one of the can’t-miss times of the year.

Lots of hunters receive a new rifle over the holidays or take advantage of the subsequent sales to add to their collection.

The impulse is to immediately dash off to the shooting range. Fighting back that urge and instead taking time to familiarize yourself with your new rifle is a good first step toward safe and responsible ownership.

One by one, the photographs appear on the display screen in the darkened Commission Room at Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources headquarters, and the people gathered around the conference table discuss the merits of each image before the group reaches a consensus.

Without question, hunters faced challenging conditions for the early muzzleloader deer season this past weekend in Kentucky and it shows in the harvest figures. The two-day take of 2,987 deer was down sharply from last year when hunters benefitted from the timely arrival of a cold snap and a less bountiful acorn crop.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources encourages youngsters – and the young at heart – to put on their costumes and join the Salato Wildlife Education Center staff in Frankfort for the best trick-or-treat experience in town on Saturday, Oct. 29.

Public land hunting opportunities in Kentucky just grew by more than 4,600 acres.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources announces the opening of six new properties ranging from Ballard County in the west to Bath County in the east. Newly opened properties include one new wildlife management area in Nelson and LaRue counties, plus additions to five existing wildlife management areas.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Gregory K. Johnson said the acquisitions are an outgrowth of the department’s sportsmen-centric philosophy.

Officials have discovered the presence of hydrilla, an invasive aquatic plant, in several areas of Cave Run Lake near Morehead. State and federal officials are asking boaters and anglers using Cave Run Lake to take precautions to help prevent the spread of this plant.

May is a special time for anglers who chase redear sunfish and bluegill as they move into the shallows to spawn.

“I think we still might be a week or so from the peak for redear fishing,” said Maj. Shane Carrier, assistant director of law enforcement for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The old timers say the timing is all about the full moon in May, but this year the full moon isn’t until May 21. I do best the second week and going into the third week of May.”

Women 18 and over have until Jan. 4 to register for a special Beyond Becoming an Outdoors-Woman Workshop at Kenlake State Resort Park, Jan. 15-17.

Co-sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the Kentucky Department of Parks, this weekend workshop features numerous opportunities for women to learn more about outdoor skills, activities, wildlife-watching and conservation efforts in the state.

Grayson Brown serves up breakfast to mosquitoes each morning in the Public Health Entomology Laboratory at the University of Kentucky.

As he clicks through his emails using one arm, the mosquitoes dine on Brown’s other arm. He’s been doing it for so long the bites don’t bother him.

“We’re ramping up production for doing mosquito tests this summer,” said Brown, the lab’s director and a longtime faculty member in the university’s Department of Entomology. “Pretty soon, I’ll have one arm in one cage and I’ll be barefooted with my feet in two other cages.”

The wait is almost over for turkey hunters in Kentucky. A calendar shift pushed the state’s 23-day general spring wild turkey season back this year to the third weekend in April. It opens Saturday, April 18 and runs through May 10.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is seeking additional public input about forest management and restoration of woodland species such as grouse.

A recent series of public meetings on the topic included a survey for attendees to complete afterward. The department has placed this survey online to gather more input from those who were not able to attend the public sessions.

The survey is located on the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website at: http://fw.ky.gov

Wildlife biologists have confirmed the presence of five federally protected whooping cranes in Hopkins County and a sixth in Barren County. In addition to these confirmed reports, whooping cranes have been seen in more than a dozen counties across Kentucky in the last two weeks.

Biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources caution hunters to be vigilant for the possibility of whooping cranes being present in areas being hunted.

Kentucky waterfowl hunters now have additional days in September to pursue teal.

A teal-only season that is new for 2014 runs from Sept. 22 through Sept. 25. A combined wood duck and teal season opens Sept. 17 and closes Sept. 21. Hunters may harvest up to six teal a day during the experimental teal-only season.

Nearly two decades after elk were introduced in eastern Kentucky, the state needs a new plan to contain and manage the herd…That’s what the Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources told a legislative committee in Frankfort last Thursday.

Greg Johnson says he held an “Elk Summit” on the issue last month to solicit ideas on a long range plan for controlling the herd…

Johnson says his department will produce a set of recommendations for managing Kentucky’s elk population over the next five to fifteen years.

Kentucky farmers and landowners whose crops or property are damaged by wildlife would be permitted to kill or trap those animals if a bill approved today in the House Agriculture Committee becomes law. It would also enable the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources to establish procedures for the donation of carcasses to hunger relief programs.

Bruce Harper is with the Kentucky Farm Bureau, which supports the measure…

The KFB says many farmers lose crops to deer outside the hunting season.

Since the end of World War II, Kentucky’s deer herd population has increased 900 percent. They’re a common and costly hazard along the Commonwealth’s highways. This is the time of year with the biggest risk of collisions.

With deer plentiful, the fall hunting season is underway in virtually every Kentucky county. However, Mark Marraccini with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, says that certainly wasn’t the case in the 1950’s.